The departure of Marie Lajus will not be done on tiptoe. Local elected officials, parliamentarians, a former attorney general and association leaders have been mobilizing for a few days to protest against the recent dismissal of the prefect of Indre-et-Loire, Marie Lajus. And all means are good: petition, forum or letter to the executive. What ignited the powder? On December 7, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, appointed Patrice Latron prefect of Indre-et-Loire, replacing Marie Lajus. The blow is violent.
According to an article from chained duck of 14 December, supplemented by information from Free Charente, she would have been dismissed following interventions by elected representatives of the majority with Gérald Darmanin. It is explained that Marie Lajus has drawn the wrath of them for opposing the project to set up an incubator for start-ups and researchers – a 4,000 m² building called Da Vinci Labs – in an unbuildable wooded area in the park of Château Louise-de-la-Vallière, in Reugny, near Tours. She had warned the elected officials, according to concordant sources, that if they decided to make the land constructible, she would be obliged to attack the legality of this decision in the name of the Climate and Resilience Law. However, some elected officials would have been ready to override respect for the law. Some would have gone so far as to “send SMS non-stop to Darmanin” to demand the dismissal of the prefect, according to the satirical newspaper.
Would the stormy relationship of Marie Lajus, who arrived in Tours in 2020, with the elected officials be the cause of this eviction? Locally, his replacement is interpreted as a dismissal. Very quickly, messages of support flourish on social networks. In grandstand at World, broadcast Monday, December 26, about fifty local elected officials, heads of associations, senators, etc., from the departments of Ariège, Charente and Indre-et-Loire, where the prefect exercised, rose up against this decision. “It is thus a profound injustice that we, citizens attached to the respect of the law, have discovered: the desire to give priority to particular interests over the general interest, even when it has the force of law”, it is written. . The signatories are full of praise and salute the “professionalism” of the prefect, “her “impartiality, her probity and her humanity”. They call on President Emmanuel Macron to repair “this injustice”.
On December 16, Senator (PS) Nicole Bonnefoy wrote to Gérald Darmanin to express her “deep dismay” at the announcement of the dismissal of the prefect. The elected official refuses to believe “that a trivial case of real estate project could be the cause” of this “choice”.
A petition, initiated by Charentais and entitled “Marie Lajus, an honest prefect“collected almost 2,200 signatures on Wednesday afternoon”. Questioned by AFP, the office of the Minister of the Interior argued that the appointments of prefects fell “within the discretionary power of the executive”. For her part, the prefect is bound by a duty of reserve and has not commented on the case. His new assignment would not have been reported to him. “It is part of the function (of prefect) to be able to jump on a Tuesday”, eve of the Council of Ministers, noted one of them to AFP.
Before this case, Marie Lajus was unknown to the media world. Born in 1971 in Gironde, she entered the prefectural office ten years ago, after a career as a police commissioner. She was notably spokesperson for the Paris police headquarters, before becoming director of prevention and protection at the town hall of Paris, from 2009 to 2012. She then held the position of deputy prefect for equality. chances in the Bouches-du-Rhône, before being named prefect of Ariège, then of Charente and finally of Indre-et-Loire. She remained in the latter position for two years and four months. She is described as brilliant, “hyper hardworking” and endowed with a strong character. “Intransigent” on respect for the rules, she must have annoyed some elected officials, explains one of those who worked with her.
“Everyone thinks (in the prefectural) that it’s disgusting that she jumped because she’s a good prefect,” adds one of his colleagues on condition of anonymity. But the broadcast on social networks of a video taken the day of his departure from the prefecture of Tours has irritated the majority. We see Marie Lajus brandishing the article, put under glass, from chained duck. A parting gift from its employees. In a press release, the municipal council of Reugny assured “that no form of pressure has been exerted by the municipal elected officials in charge of the file”. He also denounced “such schemes, if proven”, before “joining the tribute paid” to Marie Lajus “as to her qualities of probity, integrity and her keen sense of general interest”.
In the course of this affair, certain sources quoted by European 1 gives another version, believing that the reasons for the departure of Marie Lajus are actually linked to her “competence”: “She failed in her department”, explains this great prefect contacted by the radio. Testimonies strongly swept away by his defenders.